Hound Dog
by LSCultist
Summary: What did bounty hunters do before the great price appeared. Before Equestria began what seemed like its final descent to total destruction. In this short story, a look into who the greatest sharpshooter who ever lived and what they did before the Equestrian Strife saga is brought forth.


**Hound Dog**

"There is also this intense feeling of looking death in the face, tempting fate, challenging the reaper, so to speak..."

The air was cold and wet from the rain that pelted the cracking roads. Creating misty pools in the potholes that spotted the grey asphalt. This torrent of water was pushing down the chemical ridden dust that usually rolled throughout the city to the ground however. Making a wet slosh of browns and greys across the city. This chemical ridden dust cloud may have been sedated but it was replaced with the toxicities that were contained within the rain. Making it painful for some to walk through this downpour to their daily business.

For one individual however, it was the perfect day to work.

The curtain of rain parted as the sound of an engine hard at work inside a bundle of metal rolled through the street. The rust-coloured vehicle continued its path for some time before stopping in the middle of an intersection. Fortunately for the occupants inside the vehicle, there were no other vehicles making their way towards them. Allowing them the peace and quiet they wished for in this isolated section of the city. Of course, no soul actually wanted to step out of their "home" in this area of the city. It was known as Sinners Square for a reason.

Around the vehicle lay a roughly thrown together neighbourhood that consisted of run-down apartments and derelict buildings. The apartments were filled with tenants that matched the apartments looks quite well while the derelict buildings were filled vermin and clouds of dust that could kill a full-grown horse in mere minutes. Of this all, the only buildings that brought in a real income were those bars and warehouses owned by the criminals of Sinners Square. After all, why else would it be called Sinners Square?

One of the most infamous of these criminally owned buildings was a bar by the name of "Black Pearl". A bar filled with some of the worst criminals in the city and the lowest bounty hunters around. Of course, there was a third group that existed in this bar. This group were those who knew they could use the bar not for a cheap drink with no punch; but for information and a distraction. Those who used the bar for this reason were some of the highest-grade bounty hunters, traders, and government employees. Today this bar would be used in that exact way by one of the top bounty hunters in all of the lands. Not for information… no, but for its second use.

This bar is where the vehicle had stopped by, clearly the occupants inside the vehicle would be using the bar somehow. Three ponies wrapped up in rags and coats exited the vehicle and then grouped up behind the vehicle before entering. They opened the trunk of the vehicle and pulled out a long, black case in between the fore hooves of the three ponies. As they did this, a fourth pony exited the vehicle. They walked towards the three ponies and stopped just in front of the case.

All of this was observed through a high-power lens almost a mile away. The Observer watched keenly as the pony exited the vehicle. As the pony did so, the middle of the Observer's lens floated slightly above the pony's head. A strange order of black lines, marks, and numbers seemed to cover the lens. The number one stood just a little under the top of the pony's head. The observer smiled with a clean line of incisors as she watched them stop in front of the other three ponies. Waiting for the right moment.

The moment seemed to have arisen when one of the ponies began to open the case slowly, cautiously lifting it up for the fourth pony to view the insides. They never did get to see what was inside as the case. The sound of air and fire mixing together to form a small explosion pushed itself out of the opening in the front of the Observer's rifle. The explosion was softened however by the elongated piece of metal that was attached to the front of the barrel. Creating a far quieter report as the large round headed directly towards the fourth pony's head at over 6,000 feet per second. It took but half-a-second for the round to reach their head, turning it from its original shape into a jumble of protruding bone and smeared brain matter.

The pony never did realize that they had died as their body fell to the ground into the pulpy goo that was leaking out of the remains of their head onto the ground. The three other ponies only had a second to realize what was happening before their fates began to join the fourth pony's fate. Two of their heads exploding in a shower of blood, bone, and brain before the last one realized what was happening. They managed to take two steps forward before they fell to the ground with an open-aired head.

The Observer released the air they had been holding slowly as they watched the final target fall to the ground with the final crack of their rifle. They remained glued to the scope however as they looked for any more targets that would wish to join their comrades. After a few seconds of speculation and plotting, they decided that there would be no more targets to pick off at the moment. They were sure that given enough time, say five minutes at most, there would be dozens to shoot. That wasn't the plan however, the plan was to pick off as little of them as possible while completing their mission.

They peeled away from the scope, revealing a set of greenish-blue eyes surrounded by a thick coat of purple fur. As they did so, they picked up the black rifle that had just snuffed out four lives in but five seconds. The rifle being covered in strange markings and stickers that portrayed exactly who the shooter was. They folded the bipod that gripped onto the bottom of the barrel grip away and slid the rifle into their back. Tightening the straps that held the rifle aloft to the black, hooded jacket they wore. When this was all done, they stood up to their full height and corrected the black skull cap they wore.

After completing this act, they looked down to the street below with a look of disdain at it. Clearly sheltering some feeling of hatred for this city. The view was obscured slightly however as they closed the window, reflecting the image of them through the reflective surface. An image of a young, purple "diamond dog" was what they saw. It was clear that this was a female too by the face and the chest. All of this brought a smile onto her face as she thought of how proud she was of her gorgeously groomed body. Both physically and cosmetically supreme over any other female in her race. Even her height was supreme, making her taller than the average male.

She broke from this though when she remembered when she was here. Spinning around to the door she had entered the room from originally and exiting through it. This brought her to a set of decrepit stairs that would lead her to the streets below. There was no hesitation as she charged down the stairs, breaking through the door to the streets quicker than she had reached the top of the building to her perch above. As she broke though, she looked around her surroundings for anything hostile looking. In finding none, she charged towards the rusty vehicle to where the long, black case lay with brains splattered on it.

Her charge stopped 100 feet away from the vehicle however as survival-at-all-costs reasserted itself in her head. She stopped at a corner and looked around for any newcomers, in finding none, she dropped to all fours and crept up to the vehicle. Slowly walking around it until she was face-to-face with the case. A smile crept onto her face as her paw began to move towards it. She cringed back though when the case spun out of her reach with a resounding report.

She looked to where it came from and saw another diamond dog standing in the entrance of an alleyway with a badly maintained pistol in his paws. There was no hesitation as she threw herself behind the vehicle, sliding out a large submachine gun as she did so. The feeling of bullets impacting the vehicle could be felt by her as she clicked off the safety on her gun and prepared to fire. When she heard a grunt and the sound of the pistol's magazine sliding out of the gun with her keen ears, she pounced over the vehicle and lifted he firearm up until it met the face of the other diamond dog. She pulled the trigger ad watched as the diamond dog was thrown back into the alley without a face to look at.

Somehow though, the feeling that this wasn't over quite yet sat in her head. The sound of a gun safety clicking off from behind her echoed through her ears and she spun around. Picking up a piece of bloody bone off of the road as she did so. Her eyes came to meet, once again, another diamond god who held a double-barreled shotgun in his paws. As he pulled the trigger, he grunted in pain as a sharp pain appeared in his right eye. He reared back and fired into the air as a scream filled the air from his lungs. His left hand meeting what was once his right eye. Instead, there was a protruding piece of bone where his eye should have been.

His pain was short though as his head exploded against the wall of the building behind him from the quick burst from her submachine gun. His body slumped slowly against the wall as his precious fluids drained from the cavity that once was his head.

Still though, she felt the presence of another hostile force in her head. Her paranoia was correct though as she felt the arms of yet another diamond dog loop under one of her arms and around her neck. He was then pushed forward onto the vehicle and roughly held there by the dog behind her. The feeling of hot air began to circulate in her left ear from where the dog must be breathing onto her.

"Crazy bitch, killed my cronies and are trying to take what belongs to us?!" the dog barked harshly into her ear.

"Yours? Oh no, I believe it is mine now. As I killed those who took it. Finders keepers, losers weepers." she said with a cool smile.

"Oh, want some thing? You'll get something." he said as a presence began to grow on her rear.

The thought of what he would do if she did not do anything filled her head, not in fear but in pure rage. She gave off a scream as she brought her left hind leg back behind his leg and shifted all of her weight forward. The male grunted in surprise as he watched himself glide over the car and headfirst into the hard surface on the other side. When he met it, he howled in pain and rolled onto his back. When he finally opened his eyes, he looked up to see her standing over him with a smile that filled him with dread.

"You been neutered yet? If not, I can solve that." she said as she jumped up and dropped heavily onto his privates regions. Resulting in the male sitting up and silently screaming from the pain.

She stepped off of him, allowing him to back onto his stomach. He began to crawl forward but she walked over and flipped him back onto his back. His face was one of fear and pain when he met her eyes.

"Do you know who I am, mutt?" she asked while popping her knuckles.

The male just shook though and whimpered as she did so. Instilling a look of frustration from the female.

"Oh, that doesn't bode well for you then. If you don't know me, then how about I educate you? The names Deadbolt and you are kill number 142." she said this with a sick smile as she unslung her rifle and positioned to the left of his head.

The male managed to make a squeak before she pulled the rifle back like a golf club and slammed it into the side of his head. Causing the male to spit out blood as his head went from convex to concave. She pulled back for a second and final hit as she watched the male cough up his last breath.

"Tartara recipit vos!" Deadbolt yelled as she slammed the rifle into his head, jamming it in his head slightly. She pulled it out in one try and then walked to the case that had spun towards a storm drain. Sitting halfway over the drain, taunting her as it sat over the abyss. She picked it up, clasped it closed, and then walked away into the rain while whistling.

"Today was a good day," she said to herself as the rain curtain engulfed her. Hiding her from the rest of the world for the moment.


End file.
